From journalist Rex Wockner (link is not permanent — visit this week):
Intriguing results in a survey conducted for GQ magazine and reported in its December issue…
A scientific poll by Benenson Strategy Group found that 2 percent of 1,000 American men questioned said they were gay but 23 percent of unmarried men said they’ve had gay sex. An additional 8 percent of unmarried men said they fantasize about having gay sex.
Wockner comes to a different conclusion than I. As I see it, there is a huge number of gay and bisexual men who don’t describe themselves as gay or bisexual. Having same-gender sex does not make one bisexual or gay, but a sizable number of those who engage in such behavior are undoubtedly attracted to the same gender, whether they use the gay label or not.
The requirement by some that the word "gay" describe an identity rather than a sexual orientation greatly complicates polling, and makes it easy for antigay activists to assert the half-truth that the proportion of "gay" persons is much smaller than it really is.
Speaking of percentages, it was a small surprise this week when one antigay publication raised the conservative guesstimate that just 1 percent of the general population is gay.
The Washington Times attempted to bring its readers up to date on the science of sexual orientation. The WT overlooked the scientific breakthroughs of the past 18 months or so, and downplayed (but nevertheless acknowledged) that biology plays a role. The WT quoted one expert, unchallenged, suggesting perhaps 3 percent of first-born sons and 5 percent of subsequent sons turn out gay.
You know, I’d like to blog about this, but I think I need to know more about the study before I do. The Wockner quote says the survey was conducted among 1,000 men, of which, 2% described themselves as gay, but 23% of UNMARRIED (my emphasis) men said they had gay sex…. Are we using 2 different standards? Does the 2% include both married & unmarried, but the 23% only examine unmarried? If that’s the case then the 23% is not represenative of the general population. I would imagine that at least 23% of the male population, including married & unmarried, have had some sort of homosexual experience (although many hetero men, especially many married hetero men, would never admit to it).
But I can’t draw my conclusions if there are 2 different standards being used for these numbers, where married men are excluded from the 23% figure.